- Recently many sensitive data including DRDO have been leaked, reports of which have come out.
- Data leak is confidential information inadvertently reaching the wrong hands.
- Human error, phishing and technical flaws are considered to be the main reasons for this.
- A data breach is the theft of data from a cyberattack, which is different from the mistake of a leak.
How Data Leak Happens: Many incidents of data leak have come to light in the last few days. In the latest case, a report by Alibi Global Threat Intelligence Group states that data related to Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the army is being sold on the dark web for $8,000. This data of about 31GB has been available on the dark web for the last two weeks. DRDO has said that it will investigate the authenticity of this report. Earlier, data of Bank Offer Baroda was leaked, in which it was said that sensitive information related to Aadhar card and account was leaked. Last month, information about data leakage of Apple’s supplier Tata Electronics was also revealed. Today we will know how data gets leaked and what are the reasons behind it.
What does data leak mean?
Data leak occurs when some sensitive information accidentally reaches the wrong hands. For example, due to a glitch in a cloud storage server, unauthorized people can access sensitive information. Usually the biggest reason for data leak is human error. Such as leaking sensitive information through email or message from an employee or leaving your device unlocked or unprotected. Hackers can take advantage of such a situation. 
How is a data breach different from a data leak?
Broadly speaking, data leak and data breach are considered similar, but there is a lot of difference between the two. While data leaks usually happen due to mistakes or poor data security, when data is stolen through cyber attacks, it is called data breach. After data leakage, a data breach can occur, which can cause financial loss and can also cause a huge blow to the image of a company.
What are the reasons for data leakage?
Human error- As we mentioned above, data leakage due to human error is common. Things like carelessness in the management of sensitive data, choosing the wrong receiver while sending emails or messages, sharing confidential information with anyone without authorization can cause data leakage. In 2021, 23TB of data was leaked due to the mistake of an employee in the American city of Dallas.
fishing- Hackers obtain personal data from people by tricking them into their words. They can steal someone’s personal information by sending malicious links in emails. Through this method, log-in credentials can also be stolen, which can later be used for larger attacks.
Insider Threat- People working in a company, network, or organization can also leak sensitive information. Such a case came to light in 2021, when four lawyers working in a law firm stole all the files of the company to help the competing firm open a new office.
Technical flaw- Outdated software, weak authentication protocols and outdated systems can also cause data leaks. Because of these, it becomes easy for hackers to access sensitive data. Apart from this, the risk of data leakage due to misconfigured API is also increasing. Especially in cloud and microservices architecture, this flaw can cause huge losses.
Data in transit- Data being sent through email and messages can also be intercepted. Without protection methods like encryption, sensitive information can be leaked. Similarly, if the data stored in database, cloud and server etc. is not given strong security, then there is a fear of being leaked. 
Data being used may also be leaked
The data you are using may also get leaked in some situations. If you are using an unencrypted system then it becomes easy to break into your device.
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